And now for some light relief this Friday afternoon.
The will-China-save-Europe-and-invest-in-the-EFSF narrative has dominated the headlines today as Merkel took the eurozone begging bowl to a business forum in the southern province of Guangdong. Cue a deluge of articles on the political quid pro quos on offer, the incentive structure behind the EFSF, etc.
But let's not forget: with the ECB publicly ruling itself out as the liquidity lender of last resort for sovereign balance sheets - notwithstanding LTRO - perhaps Chinese premier Wen Jiabao should take a lesson from Fed governor Ben Bernanke, who has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at reducing US government borrowing costs and reflating banks. (Seemingly with a modicum of success if today's US non-farm payrolls are anything to go by.)
So without further ado, meet the saviour of the global economy: Ben Jiabao.
Brace yourselves for the Ben Jiabao put...
* Forgive this reporter's poor production skills, but you get our drift, and they both look surprisingly similar, no?
** We are also aware of the double-meaning of the word 'Ben' in Mandarin; for the record, we are not attempting to cast any aspersions on the Chinese premier's intelligence. Honest.
Further reading: